Skin-Based Surgical Tracking for Deformation-Compensated Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical navigation systems face challenges due to the invasive attachment of trackable devices to patients, which can lead to movement and deformation, causing navigation errors and requiring reconfiguration, thus affecting surgical precision and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A navigation system that includes a trackable device with movable tracking points secured to the body's surface, allowing for deformation detection and compensation through a computer-implemented tracking system that creates a refined model to accurately track the work target's position, reducing the need for reconfiguration during procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid trackable device is invasively attached to the patient using pins or fasteners, then the trackable device can be securely fixed to the patient's body, but this leads to potential movement and deformation during surgery, causing navigation errors and requiring reconfiguration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by using a flexible substrate instead of a rigid structure for the trackable device. The flexible substrate can deform with the patient's body movements without causing detachment or loss of tracking accuracy, thereby maintaining both fixation stability and navigation accuracy simultaneously
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by allowing the trackable device to be flexible and adaptable rather than rigid and fixed. The device can dynamically adjust to body movements and deformations, maintaining reliable tracking throughout the surgical procedure without requiring reconfiguration
2Stability of the object's composition
If the trackable device is made flexible and secured to the skin surface, then movement relative to bony features is minimized, but any deformation during the procedure leads to excessive navigation errors and requires reconfiguration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies feedback by continuously monitoring the position of multiple tracking points on the flexible substrate and using this information to calculate and compensate for deformations. This real-time feedback mechanism allows the system to maintain navigation accuracy even when the device deforms during surgery
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements parameter changes by dynamically adjusting the mathematical model of the trackable device based on observed deformations. The system modifies parameters such as point positions and transformation matrices to account for changes in the device shape, thereby maintaining measurement precision despite physical deformation
3Measurement precision
If multiple tracking points are used on the flexible substrate, then deformation can be detected and compensated, but the device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the trackable device into multiple discrete tracking points distributed across the flexible substrate. Each point can be independently tracked, allowing the system to detect and compensate for local deformations while keeping the overall system manageable through modular processing
Data Source
AI summary
Navigation system and method for tracking movement of a patient during surgery. Image data is acquired by imaging the patient with a base layer of a skin-based patient tracking apparatus secured to the patient's skin. The skin-based patient tracking apparatus includes a plurality of optical surgical tracking elements. A computer processor arrangement is adapted to implement a navigation routine. The patient position is registered to the image data. The movement of the patient is tracked based on movement of the plurality of optical surgical tracking elements. The movement of the patient's skin is tracked by determining positions of the optical surgical tracking elements both before and after a deformation of the skin-based patient tracking apparatus. Movement of the patient's skin results in corresponding movement of the surgical tracking elements to provide a dynamic reference frame for use in continuously tracking movement of a patient's skin during surgery.